Survey: Germans overwhelmingly against banning prostitution

[Tender Branson]

Infratest dimap (one of the 2 German Exit Pollsters), polled 1000 Germans between 12. and 13. December 2012:



17% Yes, ban it
78% No, don't ban it



Unsurprisingly, more women than men want it banned.

Surprisingly, a lot of younger voters want it banned.

[opebo]

Well thank god for that.

The younger ones who want it banned are probably prude leftist/feminists who think it is 'bad for women' or some nonsense like that, or agists who passionately hate to see older men having a sexual outlet in their own age group (very common).

[Tender Branson]

Well thank god for that.

The younger ones who want it banned are probably prude leftist/feminists who think it is 'bad for women' or some nonsense like that, or agists who passionately hate to see older men having a sexual outlet in their own age group (very common).

Couple that with the fact that most of them have not been a client of a prostitute yet, as many of the middle-aged people probably have been already ...

[opebo]

The younger ones who want it banned are probably prude leftist/feminists who think it is 'bad for women' or some nonsense like that, or agists who passionately hate to see older men having a sexual outlet in their own age group (very common).

Couple that with the fact that most of them have not been a client of a prostitute yet, as many of the middle-aged people probably have been already ...

Precisely!  The youth are like that - stupidly don't realize that they too will soon get old and need all the same things their elders need, such as prostitutes, bedpans, toupees etc.

[memphis]

What is the current status of prostitution in Germany?

[Lief 🗽]

Good news. Germany has some of the best prostitution laws in the world.

[Franzl]

What is the current status of prostitution in Germany?

Legal, recognized as an occupation, and subject to income taxation.

[freefair]

Well thank god for that.

The younger ones who want it banned are probably prude leftist/feminists who think it is 'bad for women' or some nonsense like that, or agists who passionately hate to see older men having a sexual outlet in their own age group (very common).

An infrequent case of totalyl agreeing with you. If theocratic semi-fascists and misandrist militants agree as they do on the sex industry/porn, their view must be a whole new level of wrong.
Yay for reason and liberty.

[opebo]

What is the current status of prostitution in Germany?

Legal, recognized as an occupation, and subject to income taxation.

And quite cheap too - as I understand it, it is not that much more expensive than Thailand, and compared to the cost of other things almost unbelievably cheap.  (I've heard something like 60-80 Euros is common?)

[memphis]

What is the current status of prostitution in Germany?

Legal, recognized as an occupation, and subject to income taxation.

Controls? Restricted to red light districts? STI testing?

[minionofmidas]

I would guess these younger people are just more harmed by American entertainment. It spreads its mores, at least on issues people don't feel personally involved with.

Restricted to red light districts?

Prostitution is banned in any building inhabited by minors and in the vicinity of schools "or similar institutions catering primarily to minors". That's pretty old text and covering occasional prostitution as used to exist in slummy areas etc as well. Municipalities are also allowed to further restrict prostitution by zoning ordinances, but not to the point where it becomes impossible to offer.

In practice, brothels are located in long-established red light districts in major cities and in commercial zones off the motorway. Roadside prostitution exists seasonally near all the major trade fairs.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Couldn't find anything on that. Certainly used to exist, a long time ago.

Mind you, condomless intercourse is banned by house rules in any place with casual customers that I've ever heard of.

[Hatman 🍁]

Deutschland, Deutschland, uber alles!

[Middle-aged Europe]

Unsurprisingly, more women than men want it banned.

Well, it's kind of surprising that the gap between men and women is almost negligable.

[politicus]

Infratest dimap (one of the 2 German Exit Pollsters), polled 1000 Germans between 12. and 13. December 2012:



17% Yes, ban it
78% No, don't ban it



Unsurprisingly, more women than men want it banned.

Surprisingly, a lot of younger voters want it banned.

Young progressives being more concerned with human rights and against exploitation of women. Opposition to prostitution is rising among young people in Sweden and Norway too.

I think its only surprising to you, because most forumites view it as a libertarian issue, not as a humanistic one (ie. certain practices are inhuman/undignified and should not be allowed).

[opebo]

Young progressives being more concerned with human rights and against exploitation of women. Opposition to prostitution is rising among young people in Sweden and Norway too.

I think its only surprising to you, because most forumites view it as a libertarian issue, not as a humanistic one (ie. certain practices are inhuman/undignified and should not be allowed).

That kind of humanism is even worse oppressive insanity than religion.

[MaxQue]

Infratest dimap (one of the 2 German Exit Pollsters), polled 1000 Germans between 12. and 13. December 2012:



17% Yes, ban it
78% No, don't ban it



Unsurprisingly, more women than men want it banned.

Surprisingly, a lot of younger voters want it banned.

Young progressives being more concerned with human rights and against exploitation of women. Opposition to prostitution is rising among young people in Sweden and Norway too.

I think its only surprising to you, because most forumites view it as a libertarian issue, not as a humanistic one (ie. certain practices are inhuman/undignified and should not be allowed).

No matter our humanism and the laws, prostitution will happen, than you want it or not.
The question is if we want it to be regulated by government or by criminals.

[politicus]

Infratest dimap (one of the 2 German Exit Pollsters), polled 1000 Germans between 12. and 13. December 2012:



17% Yes, ban it
78% No, don't ban it



Unsurprisingly, more women than men want it banned.

Surprisingly, a lot of younger voters want it banned.

Young progressives being more concerned with human rights and against exploitation of women. Opposition to prostitution is rising among young people in Sweden and Norway too.

I think its only surprising to you, because most forumites view it as a libertarian issue, not as a humanistic one (ie. certain practices are inhuman/undignified and should not be allowed).

No matter our humanism and the laws, prostitution will happen, than you want it or not.
The question is if we want it to be regulated by government or by criminals.

My explanation was an answer to the comment TB made about it being surprising, that there was a higher share of youths than middle aged who were against legal prostitution in Germany. It was based on my knowledge of German (and Scandinavian) leftwingers, not necessarily my own view.
(which I have presented in the Thai thread and Antonio was kind enough to put in the Good Post thread, so you can check it there if you are interested)

But laws are not necessarily as inefficient as you may think.
Prostitution can never be eradicated, but different societies have very different levels of prostitution. The amount of prostitution in a given society depends primarily on the attitudes towards it in the (male) population and the experience of the countries that have made it illegal to buy sex is, that it changes the attitude towards prostitution among young people.

Its like when we banned parents from slapping their children. At first there was no effect, but then making  it illegal changed peoples attitudes and it became less acceptable and the amount of violence towards children fell.
Now any Libertarian type will say, that illegality has had no effect on drugs. True. But prostitution is different from drug use in that it directly involves using another human being. It is also not addictive in the same way as hard drugs. So the dynamic regarding what affects the two phenomenons is not directly comparable.

[they don't love you like i love you]

I don't know if there's some type of cultural difference on this, but making things illegal definitely doesn't make them more stigmatized amongst youngs here at least. Look at marijuana, where casual use isn't even controversial. And it's pretty ridiculous to argue that's all because marijuana is so addictive, not to even mention the college culture's attitude toward illegal parties.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Well thank god for that.

The younger ones who want it banned are probably prude leftist/feminists who think it is 'bad for women' or some nonsense like that, or agists who passionately hate to see older men having a sexual outlet in their own age group (very common).

An infrewuent case of total agree with you. If theocratic semi-fascists and misandrist militants agree as they do on sex/sex industry/porn, they view must be a whole new level of wrong.
Yay for reason and liberty.

If 'theocratic semi-fascists and misandrist militants' agree on something in opposition, more or less, to the folks who talk about 'reason and liberty' from positions of fairly extreme privilege, I think it's definitely something that deserves to be taken a second look at. I'm rather proud of my prudishness, myself, and I think opebo's agism accusation says more about him than it does about people like me.

[Velasco]

The younger ones who want it banned are probably prude leftist/feminists who think it is 'bad for women' or some nonsense like that, or agists who passionately hate to see older men having a sexual outlet in their own age group (very common).

Couple that with the fact that most of them have not been a client of a prostitute yet, as many of the middle-aged people probably have been already ...

Precisely!  The youth are like that - stupidly don't realize that they too will soon get old and need all the same things their elders need, such as prostitutes, bedpans, toupees etc.

At least this post has certain utility for me because I didn't know what's a bedpan (I'll need some when I grow old). As for the toupees, with a bit of luck I won't need them -my family has good genetics regarding hair.  I understand the worry for the sexual needs of the aged single males -nobody use to think in the needs of the aged women, why?. However, I don't understand this obsession in denying any sordid reality concerning prostitution. Hey, I'm not a prude left-wing feminist, I'm not even a misandrist militant  -although many times I tend to dislike certain male chauvinist attitudes that apparently are difficult to eradicate in our wonderful Western World. I don't know if this is related with the overwhelming male quota in this forum, but I surprise that for so many people this only is a matter of freedom of choice. Certainly, I coincide with whom they say that the prostitution cannot be eradicated -if you have read anyone of these so famous books by Stieg Larsson you will know that in Sweden prostitution still exists- and certainly I prefer to see the activity regulated by the authorities and benefits relapsing in whom they are in the game. But, for God's sake, just try to think beyond the own needs of your sex.

[they don't love you like i love you]

I think it's worth noting that even in the US a lot of municipalities have basically tried to regulate prostitution even with it not being legal because there isn't really much of an alternative. A lot of cities require that escorts be licensed including STD checks, which should be irrelevant if they are simply selling "time and companionship" as the ads say, with a sort of unofficial agreement that escorts that follow the proper procedure won't be harassed by the law. Of course escort agencies that are legally prosecuted are just a drop in the bucket of those that exist, just open up any Yellow Pages in any major US city and look for the escort agencies section. Not just major cities too, there's even one in my hometown in North Dakota. And Minneapolis zoning law I noticed has an interesting quirk where it zones "sex oriented businesses" only into certain locations, and includes "massage parlors" in this, but then makes an exception for "therapeutic-oriented massage businesses", meaning there's a tacit admission the other massage parlors aren't giving out just massages. Which is just as surprising as that everyone who gets a medical marijuana license doesn't necessarily need it for medical purposes. So I'm not sure how attempting any type of prohibition is at all feasible, since it's something even the authorities would probably be willing to admit off the record can't really be done.

[minionofmidas]

Fwiw, the police still pretty much behave exactly as they used to do when prostitution was in a legal (whitish) grey zone here, which was the case until some years ago. Which pretty much means they help brothel managers keep prostitutes (and their "boyfriends") docile by frequent harrassment. Of course there's a lot of drug use in the industry (uppers of various kinds, mostly) and a lot of people working illegally, in the country on tourist visa etc. The one big change the law changes have wrought, and very much a positive one, is that legal sex workers have health insurance now. Otherwise the industry continues to function very much according to its own time-accustomed laws and ways shaped in less clearly legal days. Oh, and as to prostitutes paying taxes on their actual earnings... "lol" is all I'll say to that.

[opebo]

If 'theocratic semi-fascists and misandrist militants' agree on something in opposition, more or less, to the folks who talk about 'reason and liberty' from positions of fairly extreme privilege, I think it's definitely something that deserves to be taken a second look at. I'm rather proud of my prudishness, myself, and I think opebo's agism accusation says more about him than it does about people like me.

Good lord, Nathan, it only costs about $20-40 to have sex here, and maybe $100-200 in the US.  Do you think being able to afford that is a 'position of extreme privilege'?  Literally almost every working male could afford to have sex that way once in a while.

The sexual services business is most closely akin to that of the hair salon business - it is one set of the working class selling a simple, basic service to other members of the working class.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The sexual services business is most closely akin to that of the hair salon business - it is one set of the working class selling a simple, basic service to other members of the working class.

Capitalism at its best!  Huzzah!